Farm Bureau attack not personal

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

To The Editor:

Please print this open letter to Cameron Mann, and the Farm Bureau concerning the "debate between industrial farming and those who think there might be a better way." (Jay Johnson 12/2/11) Thank you for facilitating this dialogue.

Dear Cameron,

Thank you for responding (11/18/11) to my letter thanking Bill Clinton for becoming a vegetarian (11/16/11). I also appreciate "Farm Bureau's" response (11/18).

Jay Johnson's letter (12/2) challenges "Farm Bureau" with facts. He also questions the wisdom of a two percent food production monopoly and suggests a more diverse, labor-intensive way that certainly deserves consideration/comment.

This is not personal. It has to do with the global food/water/air/energy/economic crisis we are ALL experiencing, and the future well being of ALL life on this planet.

I must question the viability of modern agriculture when institutions such as UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Center for Science for the Public Interest, the Pew Commission, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Worldwatch Institute and documentaries such as Fresh and Food Inc. document enormous negative impact on the environment, animal welfare, food quality and global health.

The UN states raising food animals should be a major policy focus when dealing with problems of land degradation, climate change, air pollution, water shortage/pollution and biodiversity loss. (Jonathan Safran Foer /www.eatinganimals.com)

How can you, and Farm Bureau, deny it?

We must get beyond ourselves/ideologies and start looking at how we can use the earth's resources to give sustainable/healthy, cruelty free food crops.